The “Chin” is back! That is exactly how NBC ran a promotional spot officially signaling the return of Jay Leno to his old haunt, the late night slot.
Leno was considered the King of late night as he had a long and successful run up to last year when he handed over the reins to Conan O’Brien. Sadly that move ended in disaster as Conan failed to hold on to the ratings built up by Leno and the show entered a disastrous downward rating spiral which eventually saw the exit of Conan. The fact that NBC was willing to sacrifice the entire month of February so that Leno could prepare for a debut in March speaks volumes for his stock as well as damns Conan’s star power.
There are questions though, as to whether Leno will be able to re-capture the lost ratings. NBC seems to be confident of this as they point out that Leno’s faithful followers were not part of Conan’s demographics. They also point out that although The Jay Leno Show did not do well in the ratings, it did not do badly either. Leno averaged 5.2 million viewers for “The Tonight Show” in his last season and averaged 5.3 million in his new prime time slot. The only reason the new show was deemed a failure was that it was expected to bring in a lot more in terms of viewership.
Although the return of Leno to his old slot is not being the subject of hype as the prime time slot was, this appears to be a smart move. Experts say that by keeping a fairly low key approach, expectations will not be overly high thus helping the show to hit the ground running. All of the old gimmicks (the desk, chair and couch) will be back with a new color scheme. However, the new set is still under wraps so it could hold a few surprises when it opens next week!